Max Verstappen says his victory in the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix was something which the late Red Bull co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz “would have loved to see”.
When lights went out on Sunday afternoon in Texas, Verstappen converted a front row start into a race lead which he held, at least in effective terms, until a gun issue at his second pit stop relegated him to an effective third position.
From there, the Dutchman chased down Charles Leclerc and then Lewis Hamilton, going on to win by five seconds in a result which also wrapped up the constructors’ championship title for Red Bull Racing.
“[I am] extremely happy to win in this difficult weekend for us,” he said.
“I think this was actually like a race he [Mateschitz] would have loved to see.
“Of course, I’m sad, but I’m also incredibly proud of the whole team, also the way they’ve operated the whole weekend, apart from the pit stop but that was a gun failure and these things unfortunately can happen.
“But we kept it together and we won also the constructors’, so I’m very proud of everyone, also the people who don’t even come to the track back at the factory; the effort they have put into this car as well, this year, it’s been enormous.
“I’m very proud of everyone to secure this.”
Team Principal Christian Horner believes it was a fitting way to honour Mateschitz.
“It was almost as if it had been scripted, for [Verstappen] to have to come back through the field,” he said.
“I think Dietrich would have quite enjoyed that race from above to see us overtaking Mercedes with five or six laps to go and win the constructors’ world championship.
“I think he would have been very proud about that race today.”
On his race specifically, Verstappen recounted, “Everything was looking great, but with that final stop, and 11-second pit stop, that was not the best.
“After, of course, the field was quite close because of the Safety Cars, so we had to recover quite a bit and initiate a good battle with Charles.
“Once I got ahead, I felt like I damaged my tyres a little bit too much in the beginning of that new tyre set so, [for] the first few laps I was not really catching, like I wanted to, to Lewis.
“But then I think once I recovered with the tyres, I could close in a bit, step-by-step.
“Then I went for the move into [Turn] 12 and it was tough for a few laps to get him out of the DRS.
“In general, I think, throughout the race – you could see it also when I passed Charles – you could stay in the DRS for a few laps around here, and it seemed like it was quite powerful.
“So, it was not made easy for us.”
Sergio Perez finished fourth in the other Red Bull entry and is now third in the drivers’ championship, behind Verstappen and Leclerc.
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